


In Unison

by galaxygaydreams



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Bonding, Eddie Plays piano, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Gender Neutral Venom Symbiote (Marvel), Other, Piano, Romance, any excuse to rant about the romantic era, ignore me I'm a music history nerd, kind of, music fic, not really but still
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-08 00:09:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16418693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galaxygaydreams/pseuds/galaxygaydreams
Summary: “I can’t believe my parasite has opinions on what music I play.”‘I AM NOT A PARASITE!!!’“Whatever. So do you have any suggestions?"The absurdity that he, Edward Charles Allan Brock, was not only carrying an alien symbiote in his body and sharing a life with but that said alien symbiote had VERY specific taste in classical music was not something he wanted to focus on today.





	In Unison

**Author's Note:**

> Shout out to my two lovely beta writers [just-jj-style](https://just-jj-style.tumblr.com/) and [krhoades11](https://krhoades11.tumblr.com/) on tumblr! You guys rock!
> 
> [A playlist, for those who want it.](https://open.spotify.com/user/1281903778/playlist/12pAom3AMzhMFUpBsT3dp6?si=fw4XWOnWTjiSiDP1dbooTQ)
> 
> (also i fukin hate this title but i couldn't think of anything else. anyone who has suggestions for a different one earns all my love and affection + a shout out) EDIT: Shout out to [vensre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vensre/pseuds/vensre) for the title idea! Finally, this fic has a name I don't hate lol

**_“What's that?”_ **

“It’s called a piano,” Eddie took the keyboard out of the pile of junk it was resting in and began to dust it off. “It’s a type of instrument.” 

**_“Instrument?”_ **

“Yeah, you make music with it. Nice sounds.” He added before Venom could ask. Most of Eddie’s days were like this, trying to be productive but having to slow down and answer every question for the alien resting in his body. Eddie didn't mind too much, he knew that Venom was making an effort to understand the world around him.

Eddie felt the weird pulling sensation that he got when Venom decided to materialize, like the pull on your skin as you remove tape from it slowly. Venom curled out just above Eddie's elbow, a little worm head slowly shifting above the electric keyboard, bumping it with a loose tendril of goo. **_“Do you make music Eddie?”_**

“I use to. My mom made me take lessons when I was younger, and I was in a shitty band in High School.”

Eddie watched as Venom slowly disappeared underneath his skin, knowing he was looking through Eddie’s memories. He didn’t do it often, even though he had full access to anything Eddie could remember.  ** _‘Too messy.’_ ** he had said. **_‘Human brains are too unreliable.’_ ** Still, occasionally it was a helpful way to get something across, Venom being able to see exactly what Eddie was thinking of. 

As Eddie finished cleaning up the keyboard and setting it up against the wall next to his T.V., Venom reappeared as a little head from his wrist. **_“That was not a pleasant sound.”_ **

Eddie laughed. “Yeah, we kinda sucked.” 

**_“We liked the other stuff.”_ **

“The other stuff?”

**_“The other stuff that little Eddie played.”_ **

“Ohh, the instrumental pieces?” 

 **_“Yes,”_ ** Venom wrapped himself around Eddie's arm, creating a webbing of goo. Eddie learned that it was a way Venom showed that he was pleased, like a strange hug. Parts of Eddie, like an arm, a leg, or his chest would often be enveloped in this weird alien hug after they went out hunting, or Eddie ordered an extra large chocolate shake. **_“You play well.”_ **

“Thanks love.” Eddie rubbed the enveloped arm, feeling warm.

\--- 

**_“Why don’t you play anymore?”_ **

“Huh?” Eddie broke his focus on the t.v. to look at the form of Venom appearing from his knee. It had been a few days since their chat about the keyboard, and Eddie had almost forgotten it. He had been busy clearing out the piles of junk he had strewn in his tiny apartment when he had first moved there. He never truly unpacked in the hopes that he and Anne could eventually smooth everything over and he could come back. But then Anne met Dan, and Eddie met Venom, and all of that flew out the window.

 **_“The piano. You stopped.”_ **  

“Yeah. I got kinda busy in college. And lazy. Then my career took off, I met Anne, and I dunno,” Eddie shrugged. “Just didn’t pick it back up again. I always meant to though.”

**_“Could you now?”_ **

“Play right now?” 

The little blob on his leg wriggled. **_“Yes play now.”_**

“Uh, ok.” Eddie was confused on why Venom was so interested in this but decided to indulge the alien, knowing their tendency to sometimes have a toddler like temper.

Eddie leaned over the box of music books and loose sheet music he had set next to the piano, rifling through to see what he could possibly play after years of not practicing. **_“THAT ONE!”_ ** Eddie heard Venom roar excitedly in his brain as his hand passed over a particular piece.

Eddie pulled it out, trying to flatten the crumpled paper against the wall before setting it on the music stand. _‘I should really get a folder for these’_ he thought to himself as he looked the music over.

It was a piece from his piano recital when he was about fifteen. Not particularly hard, but still nice. “Hey, bud, uh, why this one?”

Venom materialized from Eddie's shoulder, gently headbutting Eddie underneath his jaw, reminiscent of a puppy nuzzling someone. **_“We like this one.”_ **

Eddie shrugged to himself and began plucking at the keys, absentmindedly nuzzling Venom right back with his chin as he did so.

It took some time, and some googling to remember a few technical terms, but soon years of experience returned to Eddie and he was slowly playing through the song.

The piece was really beautiful. Slow and thoughtful, but still with a dramatic crescendo of emotion at the end. Eddie remembers being disappointed when his teacher assigned the song to him at age fifteen; wanting to play something more exciting and fun, like the soundtrack to a movie or video game. But now as an adult he could recognize the beauty of the piece.

As Eddie played, he could feel Venom humming gently, almost purring, the gentle piano sounds soothing the symbiote. Venom crawled to sit under Eddie’s shirt, resting over Eddie's chest. Eddie could feel Venoms emotions,( **_lovecomfortEddiehomeHAPPY)_ ** humming through his veins.

As he finished his fifth or sixth time through the song, getting it practically down at this point, Eddie rubbed the spot on his chest, trying to return the warm, loving thoughts back to the alien.

Maybe it was time to pick the piano back up.

\---

**_‘NO! NOT THAT ONE!’_ **

Eddie flinched back from the music book he was reaching for, feeling annoyed. “Jeez, why not?” he muttered quietly to himself, very aware of the other few patrons milling about the music store.

**_‘IT'S BORING!’_ **

“Mozart is like classical music 101 dude. And how would you know that it’s boring?” 

**_‘We listened on youtube while you were sleeping. Mozart is boring.’_ **

“I can’t believe my parasite has opinions on what music I play.” 

**_‘I AM NOT A PARASITE!!!’_ **

“Whatever. So do you have any suggestions, if not Mozart?”

**_‘We like Chopin. Chopin is exciting.’_ **

The absurdity that he, Edward Charles Allan Brock, was not only carrying an alien symbiote in his body and sharing a life with but that said alien symbiote had _VERY_ specific taste in classical music was not something he wanted to focus on today. So Eddie just turned to find a sales associate to help him find some music books with Chopin in it.

The fact that Venom had been on his laptop while Eddie was sleeping didn’t surprise him, he was honestly glad that Venom had found something to do other than wake him up because he was bored ( ** _Humans sleep too long. Useless and wasteful design)_ ** .  Eddie feared at first that the internet might influence Venom in a strange, not-so-good way, but, outside of random searches like _“how to get rid of extra bones”_ and _“people eating”_ that probably got Eddie flagged on some government list somewhere, Venom was hyper-focused on music.

They had already burned through the small collection of music that Eddie still had in his possession in about two months, and Eddie wasn’t surprised that Venom had been searching for more. Venom seemed to be soothed by the sound of the piano, given that the piece wasn’t played too loudly. And he seemed to relish in big, dramatic, emotional pieces.

 **_“THIS ONE! PLAY THIS ONE TODAY.”_ **  One of venoms tendrils shoved a gathering of papers as Eddie tried to drink his morning coffee.

“I will, I promise, just let me finish our breakfast first.” Eddie put the sheet music aside and tossed some hash browns to the bit of venom sticking out of the back of his hand.

Working through Chopin was difficult. The compositions were more complicated than the contemporary pieces that Eddie and Venom had been working on before, and he could feel Venom getting frustrated.

**_‘NO! THAT'S NOT HOW IT SOUNDS!’_ **

Eddie stopped where he was and slammed down on the keys underneath his palms “I’m trying you jackass! What do you want me to do?!”

Eddie could feel the symbiote squirm around in his gut as his words echoed in his brain. **_‘Let us play.’_**  

“Sure bud, have a go at it.” Eddie could feel Venom ripple in annoyance as he sassed them.

 **_‘No. Both of us._ ** **We** **_play together.’_ ** Venom materialized around both of Eddie's shoulders and began to wrap around his arms and down his hands.

This was new, not quite the same as Venom taking complete control, but Eddie wasn’t directing the ship either. When Eddie faltered, Venom picked up and worked through the section for him, Eddie seeing flashes of what specific technical terms meant in his brain as Venom took over. With the combination of Eddie's muscle memory and Venoms researching, they made a good team.

Eddie and Venom worked together through the song a few more times, and with each time through Eddie felt calmer, and he could feel the symbiote on his arms being soothed as well. It felt like he, _They,_ were in their element.

The only other time Eddie felt like this with Venom what when they were hunting, taking out would be murderers and other scummy **“Bad Guys”** as Venom said. They didn’t go hunting often. Eddie didn’t feel like he had much authority to decide when someone bad enough die or not, but on the rare occasions he and Venom were running through the streets together, he could feel the power in their bones. Full of energy but also complete control as they moved together. This was nothing like when they’d fight for control over limbs, or Eddie could feel the sensation of Venom’s tentacles grasping at something on their own. The sensation of playing together was completely in sync. They moved as one.

“Whoa.”

**_“THAT'S how it sounds.”_ **

“Yeah yeah, I get it big guy.” Eddie reached up to hold onto his shoulders, his fingers slightly absorbing into venom, “ _We_ are doing that again.”

\---

Working together on piano pieces, they had been going through and mastering songs even faster than before, slipping back into that focus that Eddie had felt before. This had long ago had stopped being something Eddie did to appease and comfort Venom, but now with this strange zone they kept slipping into Eddie was also looking for more songs they could play, returning to the music shop and scooping up any books that Venom deemed **_‘not boring’_ ** by their research.

Eddie wanted that rush. He had never felt this good playing piano as a kid. He wasn’t as invested then, _and_ he also didn’t have a weird alien who could help out when he didn’t quite know a section either.

“I want to work on this one today.” Eddie held up some sheet music, showing it to the blob of Venom that was currently focused on downing some raw beef off the counter.

Once Venom had wormed his way down Eddie’s arms, they settled into the piece, slowly working through the notes together. They played over and over, and Eddie could feel as they got better, the hyperfocus on the music again. He wasn’t even paying attention to the notes anymore, just letting the emotion of the music move him through, and he could tell Venom was doing the same, the symbiotes internal comments quieting again to general comments of comfort and love, the buzzing purr happening once more as they played.

Eddie took their hands off the keys, feeling as if he was buzzing after the finale of the song, and looked up at the clock.

Two and a half hours had passed.

“Fuck. What even is that?”

Venom pulled away from Eddie's arms, emerging as a blob from Eddie’s chest. **_“That was US.”_ **

“You keep saying that, what does that even mean?” 

**_“Eddie, as symbiote and host we have to work together, use our connection to become one mind, to reach our ultimate peak of strength, knowledge, and power.”_ **

“And us playing the piano is our ultimate power?”

 **_“Both of us working as one is our ultimate power. The use of your past skill and our current knowledge allows us to further bond as one.”_ ** Venom moved to form around Eddie’s chest and arms, creating a strange upper-body hug. **_“WE are Venom Eddie. Us. Together.”_ **

“Yes,” Eddie pressed Venom against his chest, finding comfort in the pressure. “Us, together.”

They sat together like that for a moment, sitting with the strangest, closest bond Eddie had ever, or will ever, he imagined, experience. This wasn’t something he could ever let go, and the thought of further becoming one with Venom made Eddie feel calm and safe.

“Hey, do you want to run through it again?”

  
Eddie felt Venom wiggle, **_“YES!”_ **

**Author's Note:**

> ok, as everyone who follows me on tumblr knows, I LOVED the new Venom movie, and so I had to write about these two losers and how they love each other.
> 
> I liked the idea that if some sounds are harmful to Venom, some might also be soothing and comforting to him. Also, I'm just a huge music nerd and will do anything to have an excuse to talk about the romantic era for the Piano. Btw, I have no actual hate for Mozart, I just think Venom would find him boring because his music is solidly in the classical era, known for stripping music back to basic repetitive patterns, and I think Venom is a dramatic bitch who would love the Romanic Era with all its BIG DRAMATIC story and emotion-driven pieces (I mean, I'm the same, so no shade).
> 
> [Here](https://open.spotify.com/user/1281903778/playlist/12pAom3AMzhMFUpBsT3dp6?si=U7IMixF1RVyFD8sQPai69Q) is a playlist with the three songs I had in mind for Venom and Eddie to play (in order). I tried to find songs that I think personally suited them both and their story. Also, I have a playlist full of songs I think are made for Symbrock, which includes some pieces I considered using for this fic but didn't, plus some pop songs. [Here if you want it.](https://open.spotify.com/user/1281903778/playlist/4BwtFVGOnCfgVWTdyFt5cs?si=ZW8RXQOFR9OAt5liI4H4CQ)
> 
> Again, lots of love to my two beta readers [just-jj-style](https://just-jj-style.tumblr.com/) and [krhoades11](https://krhoades11.tumblr.com/) on tumblr, and a shout out to [fantasticrex](http://fantasticrex.tumblr.com/post/179333032459/ok-like-quick-quick-q-because-im-stuck-and-you) who helped me think of weird shit Venom would google! Definetly using some of those prompts in later fics. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Comment here, or [hit me up on tumblr](http://galaxygaydreams.tumblr.com/) if you have thoughts/questions!


End file.
